How Computers Work
flags
status bits set by compares
Source board
This definition comes from the board below. Open it to see the term in context.
The CPUHow Computers WorkMore terms from this board
- assemblyhuman-readable ISA
- branch predictionguessing a jump to keep the pipeline full
- CISC vs RISCcomplex-variable vs simple-fixed instructions
- coreone full CPU on the die
- fetch-decode-executethe CPU's core loop
- immediatea literal value baked into an instruction
- IPCinstructions per cycle
- ISAinstruction set architecture (the CPU's opcode menu; x86 / ARM / RISC-V)
- opcodewhich operation
- operandwhat it acts on (register / immediate / address)
- out-of-orderreorder to avoid stalls
- PC (program counter)address of the next instruction
- pipeliningoverlapping instruction stages
- registera tiny in-CPU storage slot
- superscalar>1 instruction per cycle